Patty Hearst’s husband Bernard Shaw, who’d been a highly decorated police officer, died at the age of 68 this week.

Shaw, who most recently served as Hearst Corporation’s VP of corporate security, passed away Tuesday in upstate Garrison after a long illness, the company confirmed. A source said he had valiantly battled cancer, and that his family, including his wife and their daughters — Gillian Hearst Simonds and Lydia Hearst-Shaw, as well as Patty’s sister Anne Hearst and other relatives — were with him when he died.

The 37-year romance between Hearst and Shaw read like a Hollywood fable. After Patty was kidnapped by the Symbionese Liberation Army and arrested for robbing banks for the underground gang, she met Shaw, a San Francisco cop who was hired to guard her while she was out on bail.

The two married in 1979 after she was released from prison.

“It was a 30-plus year love story between Patty and Bernard. He was a great guy and had won three awards for valor,” said a family friend. She reportedly would wear a replica of his police badge around her neck after they met. Shaw is also survived by his son Thomas Shaw and daughter Heather Shaw.

Hearst’s Frank A. Bennack Jr. said in a statement, “Our condolences go out to his immediate family and the entire Hearst family as well.”